Case Closed, known in Japan as Detective Conan (名探偵コナン, Meitantei Konan), is a detective manga and anime series by Gosho Aoyama (青山 剛昌), published in Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine.

The anime version is produced by TMS Entertainment and has run over 390 television episodes and nine movies in Japan. In July 2003, FUNimation announced that they licensed Detective Conan for a release in the United States, to be released as "Case Closed" due to legal issues concerning the name Conan (Conan the Barbarian). In every other part of the world, in the many countries where Detective Conan was released and aired, the name "Detective Conan" (or the literal translation of it), remained intact. The title Detective Conan is also used by TMS Entertainment . Detective Conan has aired in Spain, Germany, Italy, China, the United Arab Emirates, and other nations. Cartoon Network began broadcasting Case Closed as part of their Adult Swim programming block beginning in May 2004. In January 2005 in an Adult Swim Message Board Q&A, it was announced no new episodes of Case Closed would be acquired, due to low ratings, and that the episodes that already aired would be rerun in the future.

Viz Communications publishes Detective Conan manga in English as Case Closed for American audiences. The comic uses the original right-to-left format and the English anime names for the main characters while it uses the original Japanese names for the minor characters. Viz originally planned to use the Japanese names, but TMS forced Viz to use the English names. In Germany a German translation of the manga is published by Egmont, and in France the manga published by Kana .

An eighth Detective Conan movie, Magician of the Silver Sky, was released in Japan on April 17, 2004 and a ninth Detective Conan movie Strategy Above the Depths, was released in Japan on April 9, 2005.

Story

Names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name.

At the beginning of the story, 17-year old (16 years in the manga) high school student Jimmy Kudo (Shin'ichi Kudo in the Japanese release) becomes the boy, Conan Edogawa. Jimmy Kudo in the beginning of Case Closed is known as a high school student detective. One day, Jimmy Kudo goes to a theme park named "Tropical Land," with his childhood friend, Rachel Moore (Ran Mori). He encountered a case where a roller coaster passenger, Kishida (Kenneth in the English anime), is killed in a spectacularly bloody decapitation. He solved the case and on his return home, he witnesses a suspicious deal involving some men dressed completely in black. Another man in black spots him, knocks him down, and gives him a poison named Apotoxin-4869 (APTX4869), which is intended to kill him. The poison does not kill him. However, when he came to his senses, his body had shrunk down to the size of a elementary school boy.

Following the advice of Dr. Hiroshi Agasa (his given name is not revealed in the English anime), Jimmy hides who he really is, lest the men in black find out that he is alive. When Rachel asks for his name, Jimmy spots books by Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Rampo and comes up with the name "Conan Edogawa". Agasa then suggests that "Conan" go live with Rachel, and she agrees.

Rachel's father, Richard Moore (Kogoro Mori) is also a detective, but is not very capable. Conan always solves mysteries in his stead. Because Conan appears to be just a boy, police don't pay Conan any mind. Conan instead uses Detective Moore by putting him to sleep with a "clock type anesthesia gun" and pretending to be Moore by using a voice changer disguised as a bow tie.

Other important characters that appear (some later) are Jimmy's parents Booker (Yusaku) and Vivian Kudo (Yukiko), Jimmy's rival detective and later friend Harley Hartwell (Heiji Hattori) from Osaka, gentleman thief Phantom Thief (Kaitō Kid , who also appears in Magic Kaito), inventor of the APTX4869 Shiho Miyano (codename "Sherry" within the black syndicate, turned into a child also after she took her own drug to escape the organization, and then lives with Dr. Agasa under her new name Ai Haibara), and the other members of the black organization: Gin, Vodka, Calvados, Pisces, Vermouth, and a mysterious "boss" who has only been mentioned so far.

Case Closed has the format of classical mystery/crime literature, with such classical set ups such as the Closed-Room-Type murder case, and cases with a limited number of suspects. It also includes the wrap up of the case and conclusion/solution of the case like in typical crime literature.

Many references to other detective literature can also be found for fans of detective novels; References to Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie's works, Kogoro Akechi, Kosuke Kindaichi , Arsène Lupin, Maigret and many more.

The manga also includes a Detective Encyclopedia, where many characters of detective, mystery and crime literature and film are introduced, including even Columbo and James Bond.

There is a new theatrical movie of Detective Conan coming out every year in April during the Golden Week. Also, regular appearances of 1 hour specials as well as the yearly 2 hour new year special define the series.

Detective Conan is airing on Yomiura TV Mondays at 7:30 pm, after its sister anime InuYasha (another series based on a Shonen Sunday manga publication).

Characters

The Japanese names are in Western order (surname after personal name), and are followed by the names used in the US-american adaptations.

• Shin'ichi Kudo (工藤 新一 Kudō Shin'ichi) / Jimmy Kudo - Jimmy is the detective working under the alias Conan Edogawa (江戸川コナン).
• Ran Mori (毛利　蘭 Mōri Ran) / Rachel Moore - Jimmy's friend and almost-girlfriend.
• Kogoro Mori (毛利 小五郎 Mōri Kogorō) / Richard Moore - Rachel's father, an incompetent private detective. He was married to Eva Kadan (Eri Kisaki in the original Japanese anime and manga), a successful lawyer. They are now separated.
• Hiroshi Agasa (阿笠 博士, which also means Agasa-hakase) / Dr. Agasa - An absent-minded professor who invents several devices to help out Jimmy. His full name is revealed in the English manga, but not the English anime.
• Juzo Megure (目暮十三 Megure Jūzō) / Inspector Meguire - A detective that covers some clues that Conan and Richard Moore miss.
• Genta Kojima (小嶋元太 Kojima Genta) / George - A friend of Amy and a self-proclaimed leader of the Junior Detective League (Detective Boys in the original Japanese anime and manga).
• Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya (円谷光彦 Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko) / Mitch - A friend of Amy who has a scientific approach.
• Ayumi Yoshida (吉田歩美 Yoshida Ayumi) / Amy - A girl who becomes friends with Conan. She has a crush on him.
• Sonoko Suzuki (鈴木園子 Suzuki Sonoko) / Serena Sebastian - One of Rachel's best friends. Serena is very obsessed with guys.
• Heiji Hattori (服部平次 Hattori Heiji) / Harley Hartwell - Jimmy's rival detective from Osaka, who later becomes friends with him. He has a relationship with Kazuha Toyama (遠山和葉 Toyama Kazuha).
• Shiho Miyano (宮野志保 Miyano Shiho) a.k.a. "Sherry" (シェリー) a.k.a. Ai Haibara (灰原哀 Haibara Ai) - A former member of the crime syndicate that created APTX 4869, the poison that shrank Jimmy, Shiho betrays the organization after Gin kills her sister. Shiho took the drug and became small. She is taken in by Dr. Agasa and she becomes a member of the Junior Detective League.
• Yusaku Kudo (工藤優作 Kudō Yusaku) / Booker Kudo - Jimmy's father, a famous author of detective stories.
• Yukiko Kudo (工藤有希子 Kudō Yukiko) / Vivian Kudo - Jimmy's mother, a former actress.
• Kaito Kid (怪盗キッド Kaitō Kiddo) / Phantom Thief - A thief that looks a lot like Jimmy. Kaito Kid appeared in his own manga series, Magic Kaito.

Movies

• Clockwork Skyscraper (Tokei Jikake no Matenro), 1997
• The 14th Target (14 banme no Target), 1998
• The Last Wizard of the Century (Seikimatsu no Majutsushi), 1999
• Captured in Her Eyes (Hitomi no Naka no Ansatsusha), 2000
• Countdown to Heaven (Tengoku He No Kauntodaun), 2001
• The Phantom of Baker Street (Baker Street no Bourei), 2002
• Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (Meikyū no Crossroad), 2003
• Magician of the Silver Sky (Ginyoku no Magician), 2004
• Strategy Above the Depths (Suiheisenjō no Sutorateeji), 2005

External links

• FUNimation's official U.S. website
• Adult Swim - Case Closed
• Official website of the Detective Conan movie (Japanese)
• YTV INTERACTIVE -よみうりテレビ - Official Japanese TV series web site (Japanese)
• - Official Japanese manga web site (Japanese)